If you spend a significant amount of time using search engines, specifically Google, you might have noticed there aren’t as many first page returns from sites like About.com or ehow.com. Hallelujah! When Google changed its algorithm a few months back it made it more difficult for content farms to obtain top positions for every search term under the sun, and it seems as though the quality of some search results now spare us the obstructive chatter of content that isn’t all that useful (i.e. a previous search for the words ecommerce software could have possibly yielded a How-To Guide on writing basic html—maybe a bit dramatic, but you get the point).
These days, sustaining the long-tail success of an organic SEO campaign is to some degree reliant on a site’s ability to generate fresh and relevant content. Because a portion of the less than helpful information is now out of the way I wanted to quickly identify a tactic I think is becoming critically more important.
Long Live the King
If content has been (and arguably still is) king, it could be said that context could be the charming queen who quietly works behind the scenes to keep things working the way they really ought to. The oligarchy remains in tact.
Behind all good writing is an idea–something that catches the interest and sparks the imagination of the author to explore a subject in a profound and interesting way. Whether we’re talking about Adam Smith, Mark Twain or Judith Miller, the passion of a serious writer is always in plain view, and the subject matter consistently remains the focal point.
Now I’m not suggesting it’s a requirement that people who write blog posts or generate web content are required to be on the same plane as some of the well known writers and thinkers from past and present, instead my intentions are to highlight a shifting trend when it comes to online content creation.
The New Era of Content Gen
Try and think about how much content is out there in cyber space–literally hundreds of millions of web pages packed with words, images and optimized url’s, all vying for clicks and busy deploying an arsenal of SEO tactics so that one site will become more relevant than the next. That’s the very thing that highlights the importance that context has in content creation, and everyone in the blogosphere and beyond who has the job of cranking out half a dozen 250-750 word articles every day ought to think about what it is they’re really saying (myself included), and consistently identify with the keyword strategy that has helped garner success in the first place.
It’s not uncommon for companies to generate and publish content just for the sake of doing it, but is pumping out another humdrum post through your enterprise ecommerce blog really helping your SEO strategy? Well, unless the subject matter is completely irrelevant to your site, or you’ve been stealing the content, the answer is likely to be yes, it probably is helping. But the importance of keeping content nicely polished and on point with the theme of your brand will help solidify the page rank you’ve worked so hard to establish.
When creating content around your strongest keywords it’s important to keep the theme in context. If it takes a little extra time, consider it an investment into the long-tail of your SEO strategy–one that has a proven ability to procure long-lasting benefits.
—Jared—
Jared Matkin is a staff writer for HotWax Media with a background in PR, Branding and Marketing. He’s also a light-hearted and an opinionated character who will join other HotWax Media employees and advisers in periodically posting his thoughts on topics ranging from enterprise eCommerce to business and technology.
